Díaz del Castillo, Bernal (c 1492–1584) Spanish historian Author of one of the most widely read and important chronicles of the conquest of Mexico, The True History of the Conquest of New Spain (originally published in 1632; English translation published in five volumes in 1908–16), Bernal Díaz del Castillo was born in Spain in 1492, the son of magistrate Francisco Díaz del Castillo and María Díez Rejón Journeying to Panama in 1514 with a military expedition led by Pedrarias Dávila, he then went to Cuba and participated in two initial reconnaissance expeditions of the Mexican gulf coast under Francisco Hernández de Córdoba and Juan de Grijalva It was his experiences in the subsequent expedition of Hernán Cortés in 1519 that provided him with the raw material from which he penned his classic chronicle many years later Lauded especially for its direct and plainspoken style—and criticized for its pedestrian rudeness—Díaz’s True History provides an intimate and unvarnished look at the conquest of Mexico from the perspective of a common foot soldier Among the most oft-cited portions of his chronicle are those describing the Spaniards’s first sighting of the Aztec island-city of Tenochtitlán, the entry of Cortés’s army into the basin of Mexico, and the initial meeting between Cortés and Moctezuma II Also frequently quoted is his remark on the mingling of religious and economic motives that propelled the Spanish conquests in Mexico and beyond Intending to honor his fallen comrades, he wrote: “For they died in the service of God and of His Majesty, and to give light to those who sat in darkness—and also to acquire that wealth which most men covet.” This was a remark that the 19th-century historian William Prescott described as “a specimen of that naïveté which gives an irresistible charm to the old chronicler.” After the fall of Tenochtitlán, Díaz went on to accompany Cortés in his ill-fated trek across Central America, and later served under Pedro de Alvarado in the conquest of Central America It was from his encomienda in Guatemala in the late 1500s that Díaz (who was, by his own description, an infirm, deaf, and blind old man) brought to completion his True History, begun years before and finished largely as a rebuttal to other chronicles of the conquest of Mexico that incensed him because he regarded them as filled with inaccuracies Contemporary English translations have pruned many redundancies and excised many superfluous passages, trimming the original five volumes down to one and making The Conquest of New Spain one of Diet of Worms 105 the most gripping and popular accounts of one of the most consequential episodes in world history See also voyages of discovery Further reading: Díaz, Bernal The Conquest of New Spain New York: Penguin, 1963; Díaz del Castillo, Bernal The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico, 1517–1521 New York: Da Capo Press, 1996 Michael J Schroeder Diet of Worms The Imperial Diet (German Reichstag) of Worms refers to Martin Luther’s legal appearance before Charles V in April 1521 There Luther defended himself before the civil government regarding the Roman Catholic Church’s condemnations of him as a heretic The Protestant Reformation began on October 31, 1517, when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany Luther was convinced that the practices of the church were in error but he did not initially see himself protesting against the leadership of the church; instead, he felt he was trying to bring reform to the church Several debates and many tracts later, Luther had become a popular figure in Germany For many reasons, Germans were unhappy with the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church, and resented the fact that Rome, rather than Germany, was telling German citizens what to In addition, there had been much maneuvering surrounding the 1519 election of Charles V The pope and Rome were not in favor of Charles V’s election, and there was little love lost between these two powerful figures Yet Charles V wanted to cooperate with Rome, if only to show that he (and not the pope) had the power over Germany and its controversies In 1520 Pope Leo X wrote a document (papal bull) condemning Martin Luther, and describing him as a heretic Luther was not excommunicated from the church at that time, but he knew it would not be long in coming Yet Luther had political supporters in Germany, most notably several princes, including Elector Frederick the Wise, who was one of the small number of electors who chose a new emperor When the controversy was brought to Charles’s attention in 1520, he did not want to interfere in a church affair, seeing potentially much to lose and little to gain in getting involved After some negotiating,